For women, green tea may reduce digestive health risks

Most people are aware that green tea is good for them, whether they know how or why. This beverage, which has been enjoyed throughout Asia for centuries, undoubtedly has a calming effect, but its wealth of antioxidants and plant compounds also gives it impressive medicinal capabilities.

According to a Harvard Medical School publication, regularly drinking green tea has been linked to lower instances of high blood pressure and, therefore, a decreased risk in developing heart disease. Now, Reuters has covered a new study that shows female tea-drinkers may also be less likely to be diagnosed with certain forms of cancer.

Led by Dr. Wei Zheng, from Nashville's Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, a team of researchers used data the medical history of 69,000 Chinese women over the course of 10 years to determine how their tea-drinking habits affected their health.

Reuters reports that Dr. Zheng and his associates discovered that the 19,000 women who drank green tea at three times or more per week had a significantly lower chance of developing cancers related to the digestive system – namely, throat, colon and stomach cancer.

However, the source points out that such studies have repeatedly come under scrutiny, since green tea drinkers are typically seen to be fairly health conscious anyway. That means that they are more likely to get regular exercise and prepare nutritious meals than the average non-tea-drinker.

Dr. Zheng was aware of this concern before the study, so, to ensure that there wasn't too great of a discrepancy between these lifestyles, he selected women who didn't drink or smoke. But, even with those provisions, some health experts are still skeptical that the cancer-fighting results were thanks to green tea alone.

At Longevity Centres of America, helping patients age gracefully is a top priority. However, exercise and nutrition are as important part of the process as the treatments our anti-aging doctors provide.